Residents Welcomed Electricity Transformer Repairs in Soshanguve

 By Mthobisi Mhlanga 

Twitter: Mthobisi Mhlanga 

Email:mthobisimhlanga73@gmail.com

Residents of Soshanguve finally had electricity restored on 16 May after their transformer was damaged during the week. The repair took place in Soshanguve Extension 19 following complaints from community members. The city of Tshwane responded by sending municipal technicians to install new electricity transformers to replace the old ones.

The electricity outages affected families, businesses, and students, as there are two student accommodations in Extension: Lihle Student Village and Pigeon Student Accommodation. The outage caused inconvenience because community members were unable to cook, study and keep food fresh in their refrigerators.

These are the City of Tshwane representative, Pictures taken by Mthobisi Mhlanga.

Thabiso Nkosi, a community member, said the community was happy to see technicians respond so quickly to this issue. “We are grateful that the transformer has finally been repaired. We hope the municipality continues checking the electricity infrastructure in our area”, he said.

Technicians worked for several hours repairing and testing the new transformer before the electricity was restored. Lerato Mokoena, one of the technicians who was working, explained that the transformer experienced technical faults due to the infrastructure. “Some people are using electricity recklessly because they do not pay for it. We will try to ensure that everyone pays for electricity so that we won’t face this issue again”, he said.

These are the Technicians installing the new transformer. Picture taken by Mthobisi Mhlanga.

Local businesses were severely affected by this power outage, as some owners lost income because refrigerators, card machines, and other electrical equipment were not functioning. Customer numbers decreased, resulting in financial losses and affecting their daily operations.

This was an old transformer that was removed. Picture taken by Mthobisi Mhlanga.

Lihle Student Village and Pigeon Student Accommodation were also affected by the electricity outage, forcing students to struggle with studying, cooking and charging devices such as phones and laptops. Kabelo Maseko, the resident manager of Pigeon Student Accommodation, said management spent a lot of money on backup solutions to assist students. “We had to buy fuel for generators and arrange alternative charging spaces for students so that academic activities could continue “, he said.

Residents returned to their normal daily activities after the electricity was restored. Community members are now believing that City of Tshwane municipality will continue maintaining electricity infrastructure .